2025-12-01 11:45:04
Max Verstappen claims it “doesn’t really matter” to him if he wins a fifth F1 title this year.
The Red Bull driver set up a three-way title showdown at next weekend’s season-ending race in Abu Dhabi after winning the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday (30.11.25) and is “relaxed” about the battle with McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri because of his previous success in the sport.
Verstappen – who trails Norris by 12 points in the title race – said: “I’m a lot more relaxed now. I mean, I know that I’m 12 points down. I go in there with just positive energy.
“I try everything I can. But at the same time, if I don’t win it, I still know that I had an amazing season. So, it doesn’t really matter.
“It takes a lot of the pressure off. I’m just out there having a good time like I had today. I also started today with, ‘We’ll see how it goes.’
“I know that when I sit in the car, I always try to maximise everything I can. And that’s what I’ll try to do in Abu Dhabi, but at the same time, I also know that we need to rely on probably some external factors to have a go at it. But a race like today shows that when you think it’s going to be boring and straightforward – it’s not. So, I’m hoping Abu Dhabi is going to be similar.”
Verstappen has challenged for the championship in a car that has been inferior to the McLaren and believes that his campaign has been “very strong”, despite a tough first half of the season.
The Dutch racer said: “But that’s also something that I demand of myself after basically 11 years in Formula 1. And, you know, every year, I think you become a bit more all-around.
“Even in the championship years, there are always things that you look back at and you’re like, ‘I could have learned a bit more’, or ‘I could have done a bit more there.’ And this can go from how you set up the car, what you did yourself in terms of execution in a race, or the way that you work together with the team.
“To still be in this fight, I think we can be really proud of it because in the middle of the season, at some point, it was almost – not like you lose motivation, but you don’t really see a way forward of actually winning again in this season. It’s almost like you have to hope that 2026 would be better.”
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